blackjewelsfandomcom-20200214-history
Zuulaman
Zuulaman (Zuh-lah-man) is a set of islands just off the coast of the Dhemlan known primarily for its rich and exotic items as well as its traders and art. To have something from Zuulaman was rather exclusive and able to fetch a rather high price on any market in the land bound territories. Dreams Made Flesh The islands of Zuulaman are referenced in the other novels as a threat though the reason of the threat or the story behind it- other than that it is signifigant proof of Saetan's true power- remains unknown until Dreams Made Flesh. The story opens with Saetan SaDiablo determining how best to deal with the complains of the Zuulaman Queens who are upset that they cannot sell their surpluss food. Zuulaman sends an Ambassador to Dhemlan with a "trade agreement" between the two territories that is nothing more than a demand for the "Dhemlan Queens to hand over the surplus from all the harvests as well as a precentage of the livestock, and pay a tithe on every produck made by other Territories that is not brought through a Zuulaman merchant." The ambassador assures Saetan that the agreement is not so terrible as that but is denied when the High Lord calls his bluff. Saetan is then faced with a crisis whent the Ambassador reveals to him that his wife- Hekatah- and his unborn child are in their hands. Saetan makes it clear that should anything happen to them the islands will not live to see the next day. When the Ambassador returns to the islands it is revealed that Hekatah is in on the "trade agreement" and plans to use the surpluss as well as the money earned through the transaction to refinance her own family as well as several more of Hayll's Hundred Families- high class aristo families. Within a few days, during which Saetan does not sign the agreement, Hekatah takes the first step in her plan to break his heart and force his hand. She sends the fingers of her now new born son to Saetan hoping that it will cause him enough pain to do as she wishes, though he still does not know that she is pulling the strings. When he still does not relent, Hekatah looses her temper and sends the rest of the baby boy to his father in pieces. It becomes clear that Saetan's sanity is held together only by a thread at this point and despite Andulvar's attempts to calm him, Saetan slips into a world of his own in which he can decipher little other than the constant cry of the baby. In his agony, the High Lord agrees to sign the agreements in return for his wife. Within the day of the agreements being signed it becomes apparent that something is wrong when the Ambassador's rooms are found totally devoid of anything from the islands as well as lacking himself. The inn keeper is angry that the bill was never paid but despite best efforts they do not find the Ambassador. All over the territory reports flood in that items have been stolen. Andulvar realizes that the items that have disappeared- which include art, books, jewelry and much more- are specifically from Zuulaman. In an attempt to determine if a spell had been placed on the items which would make them vanish after a certian time Andulvar flies out to the islands only to find that they are no longer there. He looks for hours but is unable to find any trace of Zuulaman. He returns to the Hall in a panic. Andulvar is stopped at the keep by Geoffrey who shows to him a set of shelves in the library that now stand totally empty. He tells the Eyrian Prince that those shelves once held records and Registers of Zuulaman, but that they had disappeared that day. It is only after Draca -the Keep's Senechal- explains that The Dark Realm was purged of Zuulaman blood that Andulvar goes to Saetan. Saetan comes out of his seclusion looking tired and hollow and is immediately faced with Andulvar, who is shocked and silent about what has happened. Hekatah, who is furious, demands to know what happened to Zuulaman. Saetan replies that Zuulaman is "a word without meaning" and that "It doesn't exist." He leaves the room and Hekatah turns to Andulvar for answers and he responds that "The islands are gone.... they don't exist anymore. The Zuulaman people don't exist anymore. Everything that ever came from them doesn't exist anymore." Hekatah splutters that it is not possible to destroy a whole race, that Saetan does not have the power or the means. Andulvar's only response is "You can't. I can't. But the Prince of the Darkness? The High Lord of Hell? He can. Oh, yes, Hekatah. He can." Andulvar later faces Saetan to ask why and the High Lord's response is: " The baby kept crying... Screams of pain. Shrieks of terror. He kept crying. When I made the pain go away, the terror go away... When the reason for those things ceased to exist, he stopped crying." Category:Place names Category:Saetan SaDiablo